MMP
by swanglade37
Summary: This is a one shot set in a highly AU, Horcrux-less universe where the Gryffindors decide to start trying to impress their Head of House. Please note again that it is very much AU, so if that isn't your thing, this isn't the one shot for you. HG. RHr.


The first time Minerva McGonagall saw the badges was the second day of term. They definitely hadn't been there the night before, but they were there now. Each and every one of her Gryffindors was wearing a deep scarlet badge. Each badge was embossed with three gold letters: _M_ , _M_ , and _P_. She didn't think much on it at the time, thinking it was some new trend. In fact, she forgot about them at all until she taught her seventh year NEWT Transfiguration students. In the class there were two Slytherins, three Hufflepuffs, five Ravenclaws, and (she was proud to say) seven of her own Gryffindors, including (much to her chagrin) Fred Weasley. The class was so small, however, that all four Houses had combined to make only one class.

Of the students in that class, though, only her seven Gryffindors were wearing the pins. The stirred up some suspicion in her mind, but she dismissed it again. The next time she thought of the strange badges was after her fifth year's Defence Against the Dark Arts class. She heard Potter, Weasley, and surprisingly even Granger talking about it one afternoon in the library.

" … don't know how you made it through without blowing up at her, mate. She was saying some pretty bad stuff about everything." Weasley said quietly. In fact, the only reason Minerva heard him at all was because of her feline senses.

"I was going to, but then I remembered MMP." Potter replied.

"It's a good thing you kept your head, Harry." Granger added. "If she's anything like what I've heard from those who work at the Ministry, she's made a lot of people miserable, and is very close to the Minister and those are _adults_. We're just children, so we've got less chance of being believed if we complain than they do. We have many fewer rights, as well. Who knows what she would have done if she had the opportunity to give you a detention?"

"Let's hope we never find out." Potter said grimly. "I think we're going to have to be a lot more careful this year, and not just because it's our OWL year. I don't want to give that toad any satisfaction. We'll have to be on our best behavior, and turn in perfect work. Hermione, do you mind if I help you look over Ron's DADA essays this year?"

"Of course not." Granger said. Minerva was in no way surprised that Granger looked over Weasley's work. She probably looked over Potter's as well, but Minerva would admit that Potter rarely needed help in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Remus had had plenty of praise for Harry two years ago, and not just because he was James's son. The boy had some real talent in the subject.

"We should probably get started reviewing the material we already know." Weasley suggested. Potter and Granger agreed, and Minerva was impressed when, a few weeks later, all three scored between a ninety eight and one hundred on the next quiz.

It wasn't just those three though. Every single Gryffindor was scoring higher in Transfiguration than they had the year before, except the first years, who were just scoring highly _period_. And it wasn't just Transfiguration either. She heard Severus complain more than once about Gryffindor know-it-alls (that being know-it-alls _plural_ , not just Granger), and both Filius and Pomona came up to her to congratulate her on extremely high marks in their subjects from all her students. As for Delores, well, Minerva was exceptionally proud that no Gryffindors had gotten themselves thrown in detention with her, or any other teachers for that matter. By Halloween, even Ron Weasley's marks were high enough to allow him to earn points at least twice a week for Gryffindor! Seamus Finnigan finally stopped blowing up his cauldron once a week (it was once every two weeks or so now), and Dennis Creevey managed to repot ten Mandrakes in a row! Katie Bell received her first one hundred in an Astronomy exam, and Angelina Johnson let the Gryffindor Quidditch team off of practice once a week so that she, Spinnet, and Messrs Weasley could study for their NEWTs, and Potter and Weasley could study for their OWLs.

* * *

Sometime in mid-November, she stumbled upon Granger, Patil (Parvati, not Padma), Brown, Longbottom, Finnigan, Thomas, Weasley, and Potter in an abandoned classroom. Longbottom had drawn and written some basic Herbology principles on the board, and was explaining them while the other seven took notes. Minerva had never seen Longbottom this confident before. As she watched, he Vanished the writing on the board, and Potter took his place, explaining Defence Against the Dark Arts. They were making use of each of their strengths, she realized. Longbottom in Herbology, Potter in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and throughout the rest of the afternoon, Weasley in Charms, Patil and Brown in Divination, Thomas in Care of Magical Creatures, Finnigan in Astronomy, and Granger in everything else.

She found at least eight more of these Gryffindor 'study groups' in the weeks before the Christmas holidays, and in all of them she saw the by-now-familiar scarlet badges.

* * *

It was the day before the Christmas holidays began, that her good mood evaporated. She was grading homework from her Hufflepuff second years when a knock sounded on her door. "Enter," she said distractedly, still looking at poor Laura Madley's attempt to answer a simple first year review question properly. She was shocked when Potter and Weasley entered her office, both looking quite angry. "What is it, you two?"

"Hermione got a detention from _Professor_ Umbridge." Potter explained, clearly taking care to say 'professor' as sarcastically as possible. Minerva was shocked. She wasn't sure Hermione Granger had ever gotten a detention.

"What did she supposedly do then?"

"Answered a question correctly." Weasley said sullenly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Our _esteemed_ Defence Against the Dark Arts professor accused her of plagiarism when her answer was close to the answer found in the textbook. So now Hermione has detention for the next week." Potter took over again.

"I see." Minerva rose from her seat. "Well then, pardon me you two, I must go speak to Dolores and hear both her and Miss Granger's side of the story."

It took almost an hour, but she was finally able to prove to Dolores that what Granger had said was not plagiarism, and that Minerva would not tolerate any targeting of students. Granger thanked her and rushed out, probably to find Potter and Weasley and have them hide out in the library until dinner again.

* * *

Things calmed down somewhat after the holidays ended. Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup of course, despite Draco Malfoy and his cronies trying to throw the Gryffindor team off their game at every chance. That song of theirs not only resulted in them getting some very suspicious looking letters in the mail in the days following each match (Minerva always stuck by her claim that there was 'no proof that Gryffindors were doing it, and would Dolores stop targeting her students?'), but it also resulted in Lee Jordan and Dennis Creevey rewriting the lyrics for Gryffindors to sing instead of Slytherins. Minerva and Albus discovered a Defense study group Potter, Weasley, and Granger had started to help the other Houses out with that subject (even a few of the Slytherins. Minerva had clearly spotted the Greengrass sisters with Tracey Davis, and Blaise Zabini, in the crowd of about forty students or so). Minerva had awarded Gryffindor thirty points for helping out other Houses, and each person there three points for taking the chance to learn things from their classmates. Then she had warned them that they'd better be careful that Professor Umbridge didn't find them. After that, they relocated from the library.

Then it came time for career advice sessions. Really, Minerva's eight fifth years had improved dramatically in the academic department this year (except Granger, who improved socially. But for her, that was almost better), but they were still teenagers. Her prior experience, of course, still held true.

Brown either wanted to be a robe designer or work in _Witch Weekly_. Minerva wished her luck, and suggested a hybrid of the two. There was no use doing any more than that, even if she thought Brown might succeed better as an author for teenage girl drama. Brown certainly was good at that, but Minerva knew that she wouldn't listen.

Finnigan wanted to be an Astronomer. Minerva wasn't sure what that job consisted of, but recommended writing an Astronomy textbook or some such like to get recognized. She also set up a meeting between him and Professor Sinistra.

Granger wanted to fix what Dolores Umbridge had done to the Ministry and then go into the DMLE. Minerva was impressed, and asked her to remember to take care of herself and not work herself to death.

Longbottom wanted to teach Herbology, but wasn't sure his grandmother would approve. Minerva told him to do what he wanted and set up a meeting with him and Professor Sprout. She also owled Augusta.

Patil was similar to Brown, but had more of an interest in Divination. Minerva did not set up a meeting with Professor Trelawney, but instead talked with the girl about what she had to do to be respected if she took that path. By the end, Patil hadn't changed her mind, but had at least listened.

Potter's meeting went horribly, but it wasn't (for once) his fault. Dolores had insisted on being present "just in case Potter got violent". Minerva refrained from responding that she'd been teaching Potter for five years, and the only time he got violent was when someone was hurting those he cared about. She also refrained from saying that she'd been teaching in general much longer than Delores, since she'd _taught_ Delores. Potter wanted to be an Auror. Minerva supported him in that decision. Delores didn't. Minerva couldn't care less about Delores's opinion.

Thomas wanted to be an artist. Minerva felt he was good enough to make it in the artistic world and told him so. He looked pleasantly surprised. Minerva made a mental note to organize a Housewide slumber party like she had during the seventies. It always helped with House bonding and also showed that she did love her House, even if she treated them the same way she treated the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Gryffindor pride caused her to be a bit stricter with the Slytherins, but her students supported her in that.

Weasley was the last one, and his answer surprised her. He didn't care what he was doing, as long as he was looking after Potter and Granger and making sure they rested and ate occasionally. She recommended finding something in the DMLE that interested him, since that seemed to be where Potter and Granger were headed.

In each of the sessions, she saw the badge. MMP times eight was not so bad as MMP times two-hundred-seventy-six. Yes, she knew the exact number of students in her House. Why wouldn't she?

* * *

OWL and NEWT weeks were stressful. Minerva knew this, her fifth and seventh years were living it, her sixth years knew it, and her first through fourth years were solemn in preparation, so everyone was silent the morning of the first exams. Her fifth years had clumped together for one last study session, so had her seventh years, and the only noise made were their spell practice. The quiet lasted three days, until one of her seventh year girls blew up at a Slytherin who'd been taunting her. Minerva gave both girls a stern lecture and suggested they go back to studying. No points were deducted, and Severus made no comments to her. She counted that as a win. After that, everything proceeded normally. Well, normal for Hogwarts anyway. In fact, it wasn't until the Astronomy OWL that problems started arising.

Delores had been after Hagrid all year, but showing up in the middle of the night with Aurors to attack him was a low blow. Albus came to his defence, of course, drove them away peacefully, and sent a note to Amelia Bones explaining the matter. Amelia Bones was not pleased with her Aurors for following Dolores' orders, but she was furious at Dolores herself for thinking she could order around her (Amelia's) Aurors. Amelia also brought out the official list of rights Dolores had as Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic- nowhere did it state that Dolores could control the Auror Corps. But what Minerva was proudest of was that Finnigan had kept all of her Gryffindors on task, even as the other Houses clamored to see what was happening below them.

* * *

The next emergency occurred right after the History of Magic OWL. Potter showed up in her office, claiming that Voldemort had laid a trap in the Department of Mysteries.

"How?" Minerva asked.

Potter blushed. "I-sometimes I get dreams where I'm… looking into his mind." He stopped, apparently unsure of her reaction. She motioned for him to start speaking again. "That's how I knew that Mr. Weasley had been attacked by the snake. A-after that, Padfoot gave me a two-way mirror that he said belonged to my dad-" here he had to stop again, taking deep breaths and clearly trying to hold back tears. While he did this, Minerva's mind whirled. So that was how Potter (James) and Black communicated during separate detentions. She'd always wondered. She didn't say anything, and after a few minutes, Potter continued. "He gave it to me over the Christmas holidays and said to contact him on it if I ever needed him." Again, he stopped and took a deep breath. "I… I got a dream like the one of Mr. Weasley when I fell asleep during the History of Magic OWL," Minerva kept her face carefully straight. Every teacher except Binns himself knew that History of Magic was "nap time", but kept themselves willfully ignorant. They'd all (except maybe Albus) learned from him, after all, and not even Filius had ever managed to stay awake. "Except, this time it wasn't Mr. Weasley getting attacked by a snake, it was Siri-Padfoot getting tortured." Another stop, another breath.

"And…" Minerva prompted.

"Originally, I was just going to plan a rescue mission," now _that_ sounded like the Potter Minerva had gotten used to "but then I remembered the two-way mirror. I called Padfoot on it, and he said he was feeding Bu-Witherwings."

"Ah. Well, Mr. Potter, I am going to alert Albus, and you are going to head back to your common room before Professor Umbridge discovers you're here and makes up a rule that Heads of House are not allowed to talk to their students." Potter gave her a lopsided grin that faded into a worried expression, before exiting her office. Once she could see that he was gone, she exhaled, and walked up to Albus's office to explain the situation.

Four hours later, Voldemort was dead and a good percentage of his Death Eaters caught (including Peter Pettigrew, to Cornelius Fudge's dismay and Potter and Black's delight) courtesy of Albus Dumbledore, Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones, Arthur, Molly (who personally brought down Dolohov), and Bill Weasley, and other Order members.

Twenty-four hours later, Sirius Black was officially pardoned. He immediately took custody of Harry (there was no reason to keep Harry with Muggles now that Sirius was free and Voldemort was dead), and registered his Animagus form with the Ministry, and that was that. Also twenty-four hours later, Ginny Weasley and Michael Corner had a very loud and very public argument, which resulted in a very loud and very public breakup. Minerva couldn't say she was upset. She'd known that Weasley and Corner weren't well suited to one another, and things had been shaky since Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup (Corner was a sore loser). She also admitted in the deep trenches of her mind that she felt Weasley was better suited to Potter. Plus, Potter seemed to like her too. Minerva would also only admit in the deepest trenches of her mind that she was a romantic at heart, particularly when it came to Potters and their respective redheads. Few knew she'd been the person that convinced Lily Evans to give James Potter a chance, and that she'd called on a favor from Albus to make them the Head Boy and Head Girl for the 1977-1978 school year. Later he'd told her that he would have done it anyway. Albus could really be infuriating at times.

She still hadn't gotten an explanation for the MMP, but that was okay. At least, it was until she saw that the seventh year Gryffindors had banded together and painted it on the wall of the Gryffindor common room. Before she had a chance to give a lecture, one of the Weasley twins told her that they were leaving their mark. She told them that that was all well and good, but were they really going to stop her from lecturing them one last time? The small group (there were only nine of them) grinned at her, and Minerva felt her love for each of them burning like the fire Gryffindor was known for- Patricia Stimpson, whose pre-OWL nervous breakdown was nothing compared to the one she had before her NEWTs, Judith Forster, one of the only Gryffindors to ever have earned Severus Snape's approval, Hilary Williams, Gryffindor's resident Quodpot fan, Margo MacLennan, Gryffindor's resident "foodie", Theresa Glover, the only girl in the whole school who could probably charm a transformed werewolf into not biting her if she so chose, Sumaira Zafar, who had a dorm to herself because dorms only held five students, and Lee Jordan, the Quidditch announcer she was proud of, no matter how biased he was toward Gryffindor. In fact, that made her even more proud of him, since he was always showing support for his House. Lupin had been like him as well, whenever Potter and Black were playing. Fred and George Weasley, who she hoped would never be separated. They were like Potter and Black- two pranksters with good hearts- except they were the one thing Potter and Black had never managed: real brothers. She'd taught all nine of the graduates for seven years, yet they got the best of her more often than not, especially the Weasley twins.

As she herded her House to the carriages the next day, she saw Granger lay her head on Weasley's shoulder. She smiled to herself. Perhaps there was hope for those two.

* * *

Another year, another group of first years, another pair of prefects, another Quidditch captain. Life went on, but Minerva wasn't sure how she could when the Weasley twins were gone. Her most aggravating Gryffindors since the Marauders had left. She remembered thinking the same thing after the Marauders left, but it was true. Pranksters were Gryffindor's trademark. It was a known fact that her House had the most successful mischief makers. Well, now what they had was a vacancy for the post. Minerva had no doubt that others would attempt to take their place, but it wouldn't quite work until another pair, trio, or quartet found their own niche and worked on causing original chaos. She secretly hoped it wouldn't take another eleven years.

Living arrangements and dating lives had changed over the summer, she knew. Black had bought a large manor house in the country for himself, Potter, and probably Lupin too. She'd also heard that Black and Lupin both had girlfriends, Lupin's being his old girlfriend, Josie North (she'd moved to California in February of 1980, but returned as soon as she heard that Voldemort was back. It had taken a whole year for Lupin to summon his Gryffindor courage and ask her out again), and Black's being his girlfriend-before-that-awful-Halloween, Phoebe Nightingale.

Nightingale was a nice girl, Minerva remembered, though hardly a girl anymore. She'd been in the same dorm as Lily Evans, and the two were fairly close (Evans was best friends with Marlene McKinnon and Frank Longbottom, whereas Nightingale stayed firmly with her twin brother and his friends Edgar and Amelia Bones (Hufflepuff, their year and three years above them respectively). At least, they were close until their sixth year, when Nightingale had mysteriously stopped hanging around anyone at all. She'd become something of a loner, only talking to her twin brother, Alfie. Minerva had been one of only a handful of people to know why.

Poor Nightingale had been turned into a werewolf the summer between her fifth and sixth years. She and Lupin had had to share the Shrieking Shack for their final two years at Hogwarts, though neither seemed to mind terribly. Nightingale had been shocked when she found out that Lupin was a werewolf as well, but she didn't mind much, she was just grateful to have company. Her hair had been distinctive too, Minerva recalled, with a scarlet streak on long, dark blonde waves. And Josie North was plain unforgettable, seeing as she had sent more Slytherins to the hospital wing during her five years as Beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team than any other Gryffindor in the history of Hogwarts. Even the Marauders had not hit Josie's record, although James and Black held the record for most detentions (937, to be exact) and the Nightingale twins held the record for longest period of students and/or siblings ignoring each other (during their sixth year, if Minerva remembered right, Alfie had been extremely unsympathetic toward Phoebe the day before the full moon, and had been ignored for eight months because of it).

She heard Potter, Granger, and the two remaining Weasleys talking about it as they walked in.

"So what's life with a former professor like, Harry?" Ronald Weasley asked. Potter grinned.

"Well, did you know that he has a girlfriend?" Ronald's jaw dropped, but Ginevra was unimpressed.

"More dirt, Potter," she commanded. Potter's smirk widened.

"Padfoot has a girlfriend too, except they were dating back when- I mean, before he got sent to Azkaban."

"Is she living with you guys?" Ronald asked. "Sirius's girlfriend, I mean. Not Lupin's."

"Sort of. Actually both of them are planning to move in by the end of September, but Phoebe's over almost every day. Josie usually comes over on weekends, because she works a regular job."

"The others don't?"

"Well, Padfoot's in the Aurors, but he's mostly doing paperwork. It drives him mad. And Phoebe's actually spent most of the last fourteen-ish years trying to prove Padfoot's innocence-"

"She believed him?" Ronald interrupted.

Potter nodded. "Yeah. She was the only other person told about the switch, because she accidentally walked in on the conversation between Padfoot and my parents. But she was cursed into a coma a week before my- before that Halloween, and therefore wasn't able to testify on his behalf. So she's spent this time surviving on an inheritance from her mother and unwanted help from her brother."

"Why doesn't she get a job?" Granger asked.

"Same reason Moony doesn't."

Granger's eyebrows rose. "Really?" Potter nodded.

"What are they like?" Ginevra asked.

"Phoebe's patient. I mean, you kind of have to be to deal with Padfoot all the time, but she's got a _lot_ of patience. She's funny too. She and Padfoot are perfect for each other. And Josie's like a mixture of Ginny and the twins. She's a huge fan of the Kenmare Kestrels and played Beater for five years while she was here. Padfoot was the other Beater, and he says Josie terrified Moony for most of their Hogwarts years until he finally got up the courage to ask her out. She works as a broadcaster on the Wizarding Wireless Network."

"Cool. Did you know Lee's interning there?" Ronald shared.

"I thought he worked for the twins." Granger said.

"Part time." Ronald said.

"Like your old study habits." Ginevra teased. Surprisingly, Ronald laughed. So did Granger. Minerva noticed that Ronald's arm was around Granger's shoulder. She smiled slightly as the quartet moved away and out of earshot. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were finally together! That was two Galleons from each of her colleagues except Filius, who didn't bet on sure things.

The next morning, she was not at all surprised to see that the MMP badges had been passed out to all the new first years. She was rather surprised to see Potter deep in conversation with Ginevra again, but the poor boy would probably be off on his own a lot this year, if his best friends were dating, and it was nice of Ginevra to step in.

Classes continued and life went on. As predicted, none of the Gryffindors were exactly _pleased_ that Severus was teaching Defense, but there was nothing they could do about it. Minerva was fairly certain the Defense group started by Potter, Weasley, and Granger was still meeting regularly, but since they weren't breaking any school rules and were allowing people of any age (from any House), she didn't care.

Again, Severus was furious that the Gryffindors were exceeding his expectations, but that made Minerva happy, so, again, she didn't care. She was really quite proud of her Lions. They had progressed so much in the last year or so, and were exhibiting many more of the traits Gryffindors had been known for before the Gryffindor-Slytherin split. For Filius's and Pomona's parts, they were a little upset that the Gryffindors were outshining their own students, but Hufflepuffs were very supportive, and Ravenclaws always supported the gain of knowledge.

Minerva was astonished that the number of Gryffindors getting in trouble had lowered by over seventy percent, the number of times Hermione Granger was spotted in the library alone went down by sixty percent, and the number of hexes thrown _by_ Gryffindors _at_ Gryffindors had gone down by eighty-two percent. She was also astonished when the news came that Colin Creevey and his rival photographer in Ravenclaw hadn't hexed each other's photos in twelve days, thirteen hours, and seventeen minutes. Eighteen minutes. Nineteen minutes. Twenty minutes. Twenty-one min- okay, I'm done.

It took until Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup for her second wish to come true, though. She heard the gossip from Peakes (never let it be known that Minerva McGonagall was as avid a gossip-seeker as Pomona Sprout) and Robbins: Potter and Ginevra were together! Really, it had taken them long enough. She'd almost lost to Albus. _Albus_! The worst person in the castle at predicting this sort of thing! And she'd almost _lost_ to him! Oh, it wasn't that she didn't respect the Headmaster, but he really was _dreadful_ with betting on love. He was the only one who bet that Potter and Evans wouldn't get together or last, the only one who hadn't predicted Fred and Johnson breaking up after the Yule Ball, and the only one who didn't sense that Wood wouldn't admit his feelings for Bell until sometime during the last week before he left Hogwarts for good. Now, to be fair, Minerva had hoped that Wood would have a little more courage than that, and had bet on between the Inter-House Quidditch Cup and N.E.W.T.s, but Albus missed the mark completely. He'd bet on the middle of November in Wood's _Sixth Year_ , which was just… Minerva had had no words for that, and neither had her colleagues, although all were glad Albus was _that_ horrible at this kind of thing, because they had more chances to win. Teacher's salaries were atrocious, afterall. Minerva suspected that the most recent dock in their pay had been Delores's doing the prior year, and Albus kept forgetting to correct it. That man…

After the news about Potter and Ginevra died down a bit, all the Fifth Years suddenly remembered that they had O.W.L.s coming up, and focus shifted back to that. Likewise, the Seventh Years shifted back to N.E.W.T.s, and the other years turned back to exams. Potter did not appear to care that his girlfriend had to spend most of her time studying; being friends with Granger for almost six-years appeared to have cured him of frustration that occurred when one wanted to do something with a specific person, but that person was studying.

After exams, O.W.L.s, and N.E.W.T.s were finished everyone breathed a sigh of relief, including Minerva. She hoped Ginevra did well, although befriending Granger guaranteed a _chance_ to do well, by simple virtue of the fact that Granger was the brightest witch of her age, and took notes obsessively in every class (and Potter and Ronald were experts in convincing her to share them).

Again, her graduating Seventh Years left their mark (MMP engraved on a wall in her classroom), again, Albus bet incorrectly on a pair of students getting together, and again, Granger rested her head on Ronald's shoulder in the carriage to the Express. Potter had his arm around Ginevra, Longbottom and Abbott were talking quietly, and Lovegood was talking amicably with Potter and Ginevra.

By the time September second rolled around again, Black and Nightingale had married and adopted Harry officially, Albus had retired from everything (apparently he wanted to pursue more ambitious knitting techniques, but the duties of a Headmaster and politician did not allow for it. Minerva knew better. Albus was just giving up on teenage dating lives and had decided to get a similar kind of satisfaction by sitting in his brother's bar and bugging him all day, every day), and three of Minerva's Lions had broken up with their respective significant others.

This school year was positively yawn-inducing compared to the last few. The years when poor Ben Copper got stuck in magical ice, Nymphadora Tonks and Charlie Weasley dove from a thirty-foot-high platform into the Black Lake and proceeded to ride the Giant Squid, and Holly Lee decided to learn Mermish (without taking precautions to breathe), had been incredibly stress-inducing, and those were just single events! The past few years with Potter the Younger had nearly given her a heart attack. _Several_ heart attacks.

Had Albus not taken the retirement path already, she _might_ have considered it herself, but Minerva loved her job and she loved her Lions and she was not about to leave them at the mercy of Severus Snape. Minerva was the constant; she was the Head of stories; Gryffindors who graduated told their children about her, and those children told _their_ kids.

Secretly though, although Minerva was quite impressed when Potter, Weasley, Granger, and the rest of their graduating class engraved 'Don't go looking for trouble, let it come to you' under the Gryffindor table and 'MMP' in her office (in breathtaking script thanks to Thomas), she was far more grateful when they told her what it meant: _Make McGonagall Proud_.

 _ **Finis**_

* * *

 **Hey guys. So, I've been working on this one shot for eight months to the day. I finished it a few weeks ago, and my absolutely amazing best friend, M. Wakefield took it upon herself to go through it and edit it for me. Like, I didn't have to ask her, she just decided it was something that she wanted to do. I wish there were more people like her.**

 **Anyway, I want to let you guys know a few things:**

 **First, I'm going to be pretty absent this summer. I'm going on a couple of long trips and although I'll be writing I won't have internet access for about a month.**

 **Second, the tentative update date for** FNT **is August 26, exactly 13 months after I posted the first chapter. I would do it on the one year anniversary, but I'm going to be away then.**

 **Lastly, there's a poll on my profile for which characters you guys want to appear in my series of PJO characters attending Hogwarts that I have not yet written. If you want someone to visit who you haven't mentioned, please PM me. Also, please vote! So far only one wonderful person has voted (shout out to you, whoever you are!). If you guys don't vote, I can't write the one shots (well, I can but I want to write what you guys want because I'm absolutely horrible at taking prompts right now and I want to get better).**

 **Okay, I'm done chattering your ears off. I hope you enjoyed this story! Here's hoping I post more long one shots in the future!**

 **-swanglade37**


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